Dubai Telegraph - French hit detective show comes to US with 'High Potential'

EUR -
AED 3.879921
AFN 70.774705
ALL 97.658441
AMD 409.488241
ANG 1.905213
AOA 963.376768
ARS 1054.320885
AUD 1.627536
AWG 1.901401
AZN 1.801486
BAM 1.943481
BBD 2.134372
BDT 126.319293
BGN 1.9558
BHD 0.398119
BIF 3061.256379
BMD 1.056334
BND 1.412811
BOB 7.304697
BRL 6.133815
BSD 1.057139
BTN 89.15023
BWP 14.343757
BYN 3.459372
BYR 20704.14942
BZD 2.130774
CAD 1.478319
CDF 3026.39715
CHF 0.935785
CLF 0.037514
CLP 1035.112444
CNY 7.631383
CNH 7.652882
COP 4731.320676
CRC 539.798787
CUC 1.056334
CUP 27.992855
CVE 110.756993
CZK 25.285045
DJF 187.73139
DKK 7.458754
DOP 63.776161
DZD 141.547711
EGP 52.10252
ERN 15.845012
ETB 128.925753
FJD 2.399199
FKP 0.831283
GBP 0.831356
GEL 2.884081
GGP 0.831283
GHS 17.012698
GIP 0.831283
GMD 74.999517
GNF 9116.163919
GTQ 8.168224
GYD 221.158132
HKD 8.219706
HNL 26.472039
HRK 7.535367
HTG 138.99552
HUF 407.89813
IDR 16738.565373
ILS 3.965716
IMP 0.831283
INR 89.179585
IQD 1384.325909
IRR 44463.742746
ISK 147.284729
JEP 0.831283
JMD 167.357086
JOD 0.749047
JPY 164.334965
KES 136.790508
KGS 91.061436
KHR 4278.153377
KMF 492.621303
KPW 950.700505
KRW 1481.899804
KWD 0.324971
KYD 0.880916
KZT 521.017397
LAK 23181.253406
LBP 94594.723681
LKR 308.961568
LRD 194.36531
LSL 19.278261
LTL 3.11908
LVL 0.638966
LYD 5.144042
MAD 10.518957
MDL 19.048258
MGA 4917.235703
MKD 61.531456
MMK 3430.932127
MNT 3589.423527
MOP 8.469315
MRU 42.121293
MUR 49.531301
MVR 16.320345
MWK 1833.795702
MXN 21.69129
MYR 4.711444
MZN 67.498546
NAD 19.277515
NGN 1771.95785
NIO 38.851914
NOK 11.767666
NPR 142.642227
NZD 1.796592
OMR 0.406667
PAB 1.057099
PEN 4.016129
PGK 4.156411
PHP 62.152628
PKR 293.713639
PLN 4.341243
PYG 8250.095155
QAR 3.845638
RON 4.975967
RSD 116.975311
RUB 104.047459
RWF 1441.89612
SAR 3.969228
SBD 8.855836
SCR 14.40717
SDG 635.387436
SEK 11.603515
SGD 1.418836
SHP 0.831283
SLE 24.100276
SLL 22150.800682
SOS 603.695541
SRD 37.267363
STD 21863.98426
SVC 9.24937
SYP 2654.071001
SZL 19.278362
THB 36.91096
TJS 11.263007
TMT 3.707733
TND 3.32481
TOP 2.474044
TRY 36.2854
TTD 7.183466
TWD 34.278574
TZS 2809.848602
UAH 43.672836
UGX 3879.409365
USD 1.056334
UYU 44.567497
UZS 13547.485199
VES 47.531547
VND 26772.789136
VUV 125.410144
WST 2.954552
XAF 651.855898
XAG 0.034887
XAU 0.000411
XCD 2.854796
XDR 0.796378
XOF 651.239726
XPF 119.331742
YER 263.875515
ZAR 19.259818
ZMK 9508.281216
ZMW 28.91707
ZWL 340.139167
  • RBGPF

    -0.8500

    59.34

    -1.43%

  • CMSC

    0.0700

    24.61

    +0.28%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.24

    +0.15%

  • BCC

    1.4200

    142.55

    +1%

  • SCS

    -0.3000

    13.37

    -2.24%

  • RELX

    -0.4700

    46.12

    -1.02%

  • NGG

    -0.7800

    62.12

    -1.26%

  • BCE

    -0.4800

    27.21

    -1.76%

  • AZN

    0.1000

    65.29

    +0.15%

  • CMSD

    -0.0200

    24.73

    -0.08%

  • RIO

    -0.5800

    60.62

    -0.96%

  • GSK

    -0.4100

    35.11

    -1.17%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0500

    7.11

    -0.7%

  • BTI

    0.1800

    35.42

    +0.51%

  • VOD

    0.2800

    8.75

    +3.2%

  • BP

    0.4100

    28.57

    +1.44%

French hit detective show comes to US with 'High Potential'
French hit detective show comes to US with 'High Potential' / Photo: Dia Dipasupil - GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File

French hit detective show comes to US with 'High Potential'

The biggest French television hit of the past 20 years arrives on American screens Tuesday with "High Potential," a family-friendly detective comedy with an ultra-smart twist.

Text size:

Adapted into English from the French series "HPI" and transplanted from Lille to Los Angeles, the ABC series stars Kaitlin Olson ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia") as a cleaning woman who is recruited by police due to her brilliant intellect.

Showrunner Todd Harthan said Olson's character -- a single mother of three, with an IQ of 160, originally played by French actress Audrey Fleurot -- is one of the show's "secret ingredients" that drew him on board.

"I haven't seen this kind of character take us through an investigative case on TV," he told AFP.

"Wildly unorthodox" and "more sophisticated" than a typical police procedural, the show's English-language adaptation has "the potential to reach a huge audience," predicted Harthan, speaking on the sidelines of a press conference this summer.

Certainly in France, "HPI" quickly became a phenomenon after its launch in 2021. Some episodes have drawn as many as 10 million viewers.

Ratings on that level have not been seen since 2005, in a different era before television was overtaken and fragmented by streaming platforms.

The show's name comes from the term "high intellectual potential," a term widely known in France for children with extraordinary cognitive intelligence.

Olson's Morgan has an encyclopedic knowledge, derived mainly from binge-watching documentaries, as well as lightning-fast calculation skills and a photographic memory.

But she is also a loudmouth, with a penchant for flashy outfits, and a deep-rooted disdain for cops who she only reluctantly agrees to work for.

With three children to support, she struggles financially, counting every penny she earns.

"I did want her to feel very working class -- very much like she has to rely upon herself, doesn't necessarily trust anyone else, has been let down by other people in the past," said Olson.

Morgan is also "quirky" and "doesn't necessarily follow the rules" added Olson, who was attracted to the role after watching the French series.

All of this makes her invaluable -- and infuriating -- to police investigators. Among them is Detective Karadec, played by Daniel Sunjata, who has Morgan foisted upon him by his boss.

Sunjata told AFP he only watched the first episode of the French original, as he did not want to be overly influenced by it.

"We're trying to make this our own," he said.

- 'Our own identity' -

Still, the show borrows several elements from its source material, such as a family-friendly policy of leaving the violent crimes off-screen.

The pilot episode of "High Potential" follows the original "HPI" almost beat for beat.

The US version even borrows the same playful music from the original series, as its heroine deciphers clues and cracks complex cases.

But Harthan said that "as we get deeper in the series," it will gradually diverge more from the French format, "just because we want to create our own identity."

If it succeeds, "High Potential" will follow in a tradition of hit US shows about high-functioning misanthropes.

"Monk," about a brilliant homicide investigator with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), ran for eight acclaimed seasons on the USA Network.

And the lead character in "HPI" reminded showrunner Harthan of "what I loved so much about 'House,'" the wildly popular and long-running Fox medical drama, which starred Hugh Laurie.

"I'd never seen a doctor like that before, it was such a tour-de-force character that you had to watch."

"High Potential" will air in a prime slot at 10:00 pm Tuesday on the Disney-owned ABC network.

A.Murugan--DT